The “Special Midtown District” established in this Resolution is designed to promote and protect public health, safety and general welfare. These general goals include, among others, the following specific purposes:

(a)        to strengthen the business core of Midtown Manhattan by improving the working and living environments;

(b)        to stabilize development in Midtown Manhattan and provide direction and incentives for further growth where appropriate;

(c)        to control the impact of buildings on the access of light and air to the streets and avenues of Midtown;

(d)        to link future Midtown growth and development to improved pedestrian circulation, improved pedestrian access to rapid transit facilities, and avoidance of conflicts with vehicular traffic;

(e)        to preserve the historic architectural character of development along certain streets and avenues and the pedestrian orientation of ground floor uses, and thus safeguard the quality that makes Midtown vital;

(f)        to continue the historic pattern of relatively low building bulk in midblock locations compared to avenue frontages;

(g)        to improve the quality of new development in Midtown by fostering the provision of specified public amenities in appropriate locations;

(h)        to preserve, protect and enhance the character of the Theater Subdistrict as the location of the world's foremost concentration of legitimate theaters and an area of diverse uses of a primarily entertainment and entertainment-related nature;

(i)        to strengthen and enhance the character of the Eighth Avenue Corridor and its relationship with the rest of the Theater Subdistrict and with the Special Clinton District;

(j)        to create and provide a transition between the Theater Subdistrict and the lower-scale Clinton community to the west;

(k)        to preserve, protect and enhance the scale and character of Times Square, the heart of New York City's entertainment district, and the Core of the Theater Subdistrict, which are characterized by a unique combination of building scale, large illuminated signs and entertainment and entertainment-related uses;

(l)        to preserve, protect and enhance the character of Fifth Avenue as the showcase of New York and national retail shopping;

(m)        to preserve the midblock area north of the Museum of Modern Art for its special contribution to the historic continuity, function and ambience of Midtown;

(n)        to protect and strengthen the economic vitality and competitiveness of the East Midtown Subdistrict by facilitating the development of its exceptional and sustainable buildings and enabling improvements to the pedestrian and mass transit circulation network;

(o)        to ensure that development within the East Midtown Subdistrict occurs on sites that meet sound site planning criteria and therefore can accommodate additional density as appropriate;

(p)        to protect and strengthen the role of landmark buildings as important features of the East Midtown Subdistrict;

(q)        to protect and enhance the role of Grand Central Terminal as a major transportation hub within the City, to expand and enhance the pedestrian and mass transit circulation network connecting Grand Central Terminal to surrounding development, to minimize pedestrian congestion and to protect the surrounding area’s special character;

(r)        to expand the retail, entertainment and commercial character of the area around Pennsylvania Station and to enhance its role as a major transportation hub in the city;

(s)        to provide freedom of architectural design within limits established to assure adequate access of light and air to the street, and thus to encourage more attractive and economic building forms without the need for special development permissions or “negotiated zoning”; and

(t)        to promote the most desirable use of land and building development in accordance with the District Plan for Midtown and thus conserve the value of land and buildings and thereby protect the City’s tax revenues.